I am, however, undaunted! 2021 ushers in new opportunity to add more job titles by writing new chapters in my life. Borrowing a page from my investigative journalism and medical reporting days, my desire is to track down “well-being” breakthroughs and best bets that feed the mind and soul and the tummy.
My mission and deepest desire? The same as when I started my career. “I want to show YOU ways that you can remedy what’s broken, recover what’s lost and realize you can have a vibrant life – at any age. Here’s more.
THE AUTHOR
Overcoming insurmountable odds, “from a small village in Guyana, South America…to the anchor desk at ABC News New York,” Asha is putting on the finishing touches to a narrative that chronicles her inspiring life journey. She’s detailing the stumbles, bumbles and fumbles that happened to her during her rise to the top and she is passing along to others how she transformed her unpredictable moments into ultimately wonderful winning ways. Standby for the book! It’s coming. On the drawing board possibilities for the future; podcasting and maybe a return to her passion for health news reporting.
THE ANCHOR
Asha, a five-time Emmy award winner has co-hosted and co-anchored programs at two television networks. Watched by millions in the morning, she hosted “Later Today” at NBC. At ABC she anchored “World News Now, World News this Morning and Good Morning America Sunday,” in addition to reporting for “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.” Asha’s news reporting has placed her on the front lines of breaking news events and face to face with world leaders. Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks, Pres. Bill Clinton and V.P. Al Gore to name a few. Some of Asha’s feature interviews have included Hank Azaria, Earth Wind and Fire, Sarah Ferguson-Duchess of York, Jude Law, Jay Leno, Prince and Denzel Washington.
During the time period when women struggled to break into primetime national news roles, Asha was one of the first people of Indian/South Asian descent hired to anchor a regularly scheduled major American network newscast (ABC News) and the first to achieve this such distinction of anchoring, at two major networks (ABC and NBC). She was honored as one of the top Asians to watch in the future by A. Magazine.
THE CORRESPONDENT
Asha has ventured to numerous dark and gruesome locations on assignment, covering murders, murky international disasters like the Valdez Oil Spill, natural tragedies and shining the light on sex abuse in the Catholic church. In 2013-2014 she worked as West Coast Correspondent for the nationally syndicated program “America Now.”
In addition to her national TV network experience, Asha worked in local markets Los Angeles, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis and Little Rock, receiving numerous accolades. Distinguished as a medical correspondent as well, Asha received her first two Emmy awards for a series of reports on breast cancer and organ donations. In 2008, Asha served as Reporter and Executive Producer for the environmental-health based “KTLA Green” project. For her leadership with this informational franchise, she was honored with an Emmy award for team collaboration on a news program. Asha also collected two Emmy awards for producing, writing and hosting a series of interview specials in Denver.
BE RADIANT ALL YOUR LIFE
Outside of her career in news broadcasting, Asha’s interest in health, vitality and radiant living prompted her to take on other positive living TV projects on which also caught fire. Asha hosted two nationally syndicated shows: PBS’s "Smart Gardening” and “Life Moments.”
THE ENTREPRENEUR
For the past decade Asha has owned and operated her own media company. As the CEO of Goldenheart Media she coached clients for TV interviews and booked them for appearances. Her clients have appeared on national talk shows, news networks and local outlets such as ABC, NBC, CNN, KTLA-TV, KCBS-TV, WDIV-TV, KARE-TV, KSTP-TV, WUSA-TV, WPIX-TV and WGN-TV and programs such as Entertainment Tonight, Meredith Viera Talk Show and the Steve Harvey Talk Show. Asha’s clientele have spanned the gamut from lawyers and doctors to bestselling authors and music stars.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Following the 9/11 attacks, in 2001, Asha created a public service website called “4 My Emergency” which provided a free advance planning guide to help organize pertinent personal information in the event of an emergency. The website was instrumental to millions of people, who are now better prepared to deal with life catastrophes.
GIVING BACK
Over the years Asha had volunteered her time for numerous other causes and acts of community service. Acting as a celebrity ambassador for UNICEF, and other causes, she has helped raise millions of dollars for various fundraising events. In 2017 her love for children inspired Asha to help improve a birthing center in Nepal, for the organization One Heart Worldwide. That same year, she helped the Minneapolis Crisis Nursery purchase beds, sheets and other items for needy families. In 2018 she started working as a volunteer on the Suicide Crisis Hotline. In April 2019 Asha became certified as a domestic violence counselor in Los Angeles.
Born in South America, Asha grew up in Toronto and attended high school in Minneapolis. In 2015 she was inducted into her high school Hall of Fame. A graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, Asha has been featured in numerous magazines and publications including Time, USA Weekend, InStyle Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Core Business and Ladies’ Home Journal. The joy of her life is her daughter Sasha. Sasha is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley.